Today is stewardship Sunday. It´s one of those Sundays that we are tasked to preach about giving. You know, the pastors job is not easy. It´s hard enough to preach a sermon on salvation or sin, it´s even harder to speak in the pulpit about stewardship, about giving and most especially about tithing. I have no business standing here and speak about tithing if I myself does not give my tithes. Probably the first person to walk out of this room is our Accounting Ministry.
Our church is full of gifted people especially in preaching. Sometimes, people would ask me, Pastor Ramil, why don´t you let this person preach. He´s been in the church for a long time. He has a gift in speaking . In fact, with all due respect, Pastor Ramil, he is better than most pastors. (One thing I learned over the years, when a person says “with all due respect” please expect that the next few words will be a bit disrespecting). So what can I say, I agree with everything the person said, except that I cannot tell him why. If I ask that person to preach about tithing in the pulpit "Houston, we have a problem..."
Your pastors may not be the most talented preachers but one thing I can assure you, we practice what we preach especially in the area of tithing.
You see whenever we preach about tithing, we take a step of faith and a huge risk of being misinterpreted. A lot of people shied away from the church because they think the pastors are just there to take away their money. That the church is just a big excuse to collect people´s hard-earned money by some wolves in sheep´s clothing pretending to care because they want to enrich themselves at the expense of others. I can´t blame some people to think that way. Because sometimes we´ve seen in the news how extravagant some pastors live their lives.
Jesus did not say during His ministry here on earth was "Now that you´re under grace in the New Covenant, forget about tithing because tithing is found in the Old Testament. It´s passé, no need to do that!” No, He did not say that.
Tithing is not a very popular word to use. People would rather hear about “love offering” or “love gift” or “generous giving” or “sharing” but the word “tithing” seems to have some sort of stigma in it. Even in Tagalog it´s not popular, the word “tithing” in Tagalog is IKAPU, sounds like INAKUPU!
Among the questions that I get about tithing are the following:
1. Is tithing only applicable in the Old Testament and that it was never commanded in the New Testament?
2. Is it based on Gross Income or Net Income?
3. Here´s a logical expression:
Tithing is under the law.
The Bible says, we are no longer under the law but under grace. Therefore, tithing is unbiblical.
Therefore, again, It´s perfectly all right to give less than 10 percent or not to give anything at all.
Every time I talk about tithing and we mention Malachi 3:10, some people will say “that´s Old Testament, not applicable.” But Abraham gave his tithes to King Melchizedek – nope, Old Testament, not applicable.
Well, let us read a New Testament passage & listen what Jesus Christ had to say about this.
The first thing we need to understand this morning is the word TITHE:
But maybe before we even argue about the 10% of what we are supposed to give back to God, let us first understand who owns the 100%. The Bible says in Psalm 24:1 “The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.” So this simply means that God owns you and everything you have, including your money.
But pastor, I worked hard for the money…so hard for the money. You may have this job but who gave you this job in the first place? But Pastor, I studied hard and worked hard and used my talents to get this job. Well, who gave you those talents in the first place. Who gave you your life in the first place. So if God owns everything, what are we? We are stewards. We are caretakers. If we have internalized this principle that God owns everything and we own nothing, then it will not be very hard for us to give something back to Him. Not because we are forced to do so, but because of that overflowing gratitude in our hearts that while we give back a certain portion of what we earned, God in His generosity allows us to use the rest for His glory.
LESSONS:
Let´s talk about the first lesson that we can derive from the passages that we read this morning. Since a lot of people here are logical people, I wrote a logical expression here to prove a point:
Tithing is under the law.
Jesus has nothing against the Old Testament law. Why? Because He created those laws in the first place. In the beginning, Jesus was with God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
When Jesus walked here on earth, He had to explain or maybe let´s use the word “expound” the law because people are getting it wrong. For example, the Pharisees were questioning Him about healing people or helping the needy during the Sabbath. So Jesus said, “wait a minute, you´re getting it wrong …. The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath! God commanded the Sabbath so that people can rest and worship the Lord.
How did Jesus want us to fulfill the law?
Jesus wants us to fulfill the law from His perspective. He wants us to follow the law not for the sake of following it but because we love God. Jesus wants us to obey the law so we can please God but not to put others down or not put ourselves better than the others.
One time Jesus told a story: A Pharisee and a tax collector went to the temple to pray. The Pharisee prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
“But the tax collector would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ The tax collector went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
That is how Jesus wants us to fulfill the law. He does not want us to forget the more important things in life and not to become self-righteous. Let us say you are faithfully giving your tithes in the church but you´re the queen or king of gossip, you have a bigger problem sir… or ma´am. Or let´s say you are top giver of tithes in the church, but you are living an immoral life… you are certainly missing the point.
Jesus said to the Pharisees:
Now question, did Jesus abolish tithing in the New Testament or not? Or not!
Let us go to our second point. Some people likes to use the word “grace” when they talk about giving. Sometimes, the intention is good and it´s biblical but I do hope they know what they are talking about.
Jesus sets a higher standard under grace in fulfilling the law – not just in giving but in every aspect of the law. (V19)
What´s Jesus´ standard?
If you read the Bible you´ll know what I´m talking about. Jesus made His standards very, very clear. Let me give you some examples:
Jesus said in Matthew Chapter 5, verse 21-22: “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder,[Exodus 20:13] which is part of the Ten Commandments. Why did Jesus use the word “heard?” Well because at that time, the Old Testament laws were read to people. Jesus continued “But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.
Raca is an Aramaic term for “contempt” so Jesus was saying… wait, “you shall not murder” does not simply mean you need to take the life of someone else… if you are character-assassinating somebody, that´s also murder from God´s standpoint.
Then Jesus continued -- “if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.”
Ok, life application … you are faithful in giving your tithes. You placed your love gift in the collection bag. but you have issues with people, you have lots of enemies, you have offended somebody… what did Jesus say? Go and be reconciled to them… then come back and offer your gift… now your gift becomes a sweet smelling aroma to the Lord.
In Matthew 5:27, Jesus said “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery. But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Lustful thoughts is already adultery. These are Jesus standards under the age of grace. Now tell me, which is the higher standard? Under the law or under Grace? Well, if you want to be technical about it… there is only one set of standards, it´s God´s standards but like what I said, over the years… man has corrupted God´s law. They were faithful, but they were faithfully wrong. They were sincere, but they were sincerely wrong.
Here´s our third point:
Jesus said in verse 20 “For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
This applies to everything, including giving.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
The sad thing is this – some people uses “grace” sometimes as a rationale for not giving at all. Once I heard somebody saying this. God owns everything, right? Everything!
- If my kids are really the Lord's, then I can count the money I spend on their food and clothing and college tuition as falling into the 'good steward or tithing or giving' category.
- If I use my home for hospitality and hosting Bible study group, then I can spend for furniture acquisition and home makeovers. I use my computer for Bible study and my phone to store worship songs, so those items are “steward” deductible" or “steward applicable” expenses
- If I send money to my relatives in the Philippines, this means I a a good and helpful person and I can count this as part of my giving back to God
- I pay taxes, this makes me a good citizen so I can consider this part of what I give back to God
- Well, God owns everything, including my body. So if I treat myself to “the Keg” and eat a $50 dollar steak, I can consider this as part of my giving to the Lord.
- I watch the sermon of Charles Stanley on television so I can consider my 60 inch LED TV as part of my givings to the Lord
- I play golf and share the Gospel with my golfing buddies, so my green fee and the cost of my Callaway golf set is also considered as part of my tithes.
We can go on and on and on… but this type of "all-grace giving" where we give "everything" to God looks suspiciously tantamount to giving nothing back to God.
You know, if you read the Bible, you will learn that in many occasions, God tests His children. Our life is a test. God wants to know who is faithful and who is not. However, there is one instance when God allows His children to TEST Him. What? Me testing God?
Malachi 3;10 says “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test Me in this,' says the Lord Almighty, 'and see if I will not throw open the flood gates of heaven and pour out so much blessing there will not be room enough to store it.'"
God invites human beings into an experiment. He challenges people to test Him. How can we know what God has in-store for us if we don’t do what He asks us to do.
You can start giving to the church… if you cannot afford to give 10%, start with something smaller… but be consistent and be faithful. Give with a cheerful heart, because God loves a cheerful giver. If you want to give 10% based on your salary and you are confused whether its based on Gross or Net Salary… well, you can start with your Net Salary. But remember we reap what we sow. I do believe that the more generous we are in our givings, the more blessings God will open up for each one of us. And even if He doesn´t give us something back, it´s ok. We trust Him with His plans. And this is something we have proven over the years in my family. God provides – in different forms. We have proven that.
One good example is about our children – He did not give us money to pay for my daughter´s tuition fee in the university – but He made her hardworking enough to get full scholarship. God did not give us money so we can send our son Ram to study music like piano or guitar or flute. But He blesses Him with a gift in music so he can still play just by listening on his own. God is good, amen?
Let me leave you with this statement from one of my favorite preacher:
Let us pray.
Prayer:
Wherever you are, whatever you situation you may be -- you need the love of Jesus in your life. Please say this prayer sincerely from your heart:
Father God, I confess all my sins to you today. Please forgive me. Today, I open my heart to your Son Jesus Christ. I accept Him in my life as my Saviour and as my Lord. May the Holy Spirit come to my life and make me the kind of person you want me to be. In Jesus Name, I pray. Amen.
The above article is an excerpt from a sermon delivered at WCCC Richmond during its service on Sunday, May 21, 2017
I apologise if there are grammatical and spelling errors.
I also apologise if I have missed acknowledging or making proper references to my sources, if any, as it is purely unintentional.
If you are looking for a church in British Columbia, Canada please visit our website at:
www.wordchristiancommunity.com
No comments:
Post a Comment